TOS 52: By Any Other Name

Original air date: 02/23/1968
Star date: 4657.5 (given 15 minutes in)

Summary: Kirk, Spock, McCoy and two redshirts beam down to an unnamed planet in response to a distress call.  They find there a man and a woman who demand that Kirk turn over command of the Enterprise.  Kirk and the rest think they're joking, until they paralyze the landing party by pressing a button on their belts.  The man, Rojan, explains that he, the woman Kelinda, and a few others are from the planet Kelva in the Andromeda galaxy, that radiation will make their galaxy uninhabitable in a few millenia, and that they are a scout party looking for a new galaxy to conquer.  Rojan, Kelinda and the others are the last generation of Kelvans from their spacecraft, born during the centuries-long journey from Kelva.  They have found our galaxy suitable, but since communication is impossible over such great distances, they must commandeer the Enterprise and return to Andromeda.  It looks like Kirk and the rest are powerless to stop them, since the Kelvans can paralyze them at the touch of a button.

That's not the only weapon the Kelvans have at their disposal.  Rojan and Kelinda keep Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the redshirts imprisoned in a cave while three others work with the rest of the crew on the Enterprise to prepare the ship for its journey to Andromeda.  Using the same mind control technique he used on Emeniar-7 in "A Taste of Armageddon", Spock lures Kelinda into the cave and they are able to escape momentarily.  However, Rojan quickly subdues them and, as punishment, uses other powers of his magic belt to reduce the two redshirts to small styrofoam blocks.  Rojan crushes one of them in his hands, killing the female redshirt, but demonstrates that a life form reduced to this state can be restored, bringing the male redshirt back.

Not wanting to risk the death of more crew members, Kirk turns his attention toward trying to neutralize the Kelvan paralyzers.  Back aboard the Enterprise, Spock and Scotty locate the central projector for the paralyzers, but are unable to destroy or disable it.  The Enterprise begins its journey to Andromeda, which starts by passing through a "galactic barrier".  Spock and Scotty rig the nacelles so that Kirk can destroy the ship as they pass through, killing the Kelvans and themselves, but Kirk chooses not to activate the self-destruct mechanism.  Once through the galactic barrier, the Kelvans "neutralize" --- that is, reduce to styrofoam blocks --- the entire Enterprise crew except for Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty.  The remaining four are left to figure out some way to defeat the Kelvans during the roughly 300-year journey back to Andromeda, which will arrive after everyone on board has died of old age, on a ship led by Rojan's descendant.

The only possibility they have lies in the fact that the Kelvans are not human, but have assumed human form in order to allow them to travel on the Enterprise.  As a result of his earlier mind contact with Kelinda, Spock concludes that the Kelvans are not accustomed to human sensations such as touch, taste and emotion.  The remaining four thus formulate a plan to overstimulate the Kelvans in their human bodies: McCoy makes Hanar irritable by giving him injections, ostensibly of vitamins.  Scotty gets Tomar drunk, and Kirk sparks a love triangle and feelings of jealousy between Kelinda and Rojan.  The plan succeeds, with Rojan's jealousy ultimately causing him to engage Kirk in a fistfight.  Kirk tells Rojan he is no longer a Kelvan but a human, and Spock points out that he is but the final link in a chain following a centuries-old command.  Kirk tells him he can create his own destiny.  Rojan decides to remain in our galaxy on friendly terms with the Federation, and returns control of the Enterprise to Kirk.

This is a pretty good episode for the first 45 minutes, but the ending stinks.  It's almost as if the writers didn't know how to end it, and so after 48 minutes they decided for everyone to just suddenly be friends.  It's a shame they couldn't have written a different ending like, for example, Kirk turns the tables on the Kelvans, reduces them all to styrofoam blocks, and ships them back to Andromeda on a shuttle craft (the Galileo, no doubt).  Or pretty much anything else, really --- Rojan's sudden change of heart at the end really ruins an otherwise pretty good episode.

Actually, Rojan's capitulation isn't the only sour note at the end.  Rojan is going mano-a-mano against Kirk because he's jealous of the attention Kirk is receiving from Kelinda.  It makes sense that Rojan wants to kick his ass instead of simply paralyzing him.  But why does Kelinda stand by idly and watch, without paralyzing Kirk or Rojan?  And why do Spock and McCoy stand by idly and watch as well, instead of helping out by, say, subduing Rojan and Kelinda with a Vulcan nerve pinch and getting their paralyzer boxes away from them?  Terrible writing and terrible directing.

Setting that aside, the plot is pretty good.  The Kelvan paralyzer weapon is a great idea: nonviolent, but extremely effective.  The ability to "freeze-dry" living beings is an interesting concept as well, thought they could have done more with it.  Instead of everyone shrinking down to a plain white block, it would have been a nice touch for each block to have a unique pattern and coloring to reflect the uniqueness of each individual.

And despite Rojan's murder of one of the redshirts, the Kelvans are not a particularly brutal or authoritarian enemy.  They are simply doing what they believe they must do in order to save their race.  They use force only when necessary, and otherwise treat the Enterprise and its crew with respect.  And while this is hardly the first time we've seen the crew of the Enterprise use human exceptionalism to solve their problem, we usually see it used against computers or androids.  Watching the Kelvans fall prey to human weakness is somewhat engaging and entertaining.

On the other hand, it does seem that the writers are convinced that humans are the only creatures in the universe prone to feelings of love, jealousy, frustration, gluttony, etc.  I would imagine that most alien societies, if any exist, tend to be more like humans than the Vulcanoid/stoic/bland humanoids in the show.

Other observations about this episode . . .

Rojan looks one hell of a lot like the comedian Bob Odenkirk:

Rojan, when the Enterprise crew first encounter him

 Bob Odenkirk was actually their first choice for the role,

but he was only 6 years old at the time.

Another of Kelvans, Hanar, bears more than a passing resemblance to the comedian Kevin McDonald, but I couldn't find a decent picture of Hanar to use for comparison purposes.

Spock claims not to understand human emotion, but he certainly knows how to get under Rojan's skin --- on two separate occasions --- to make him jealous of Kirk's relationship with Kelinda.

The scenes where Enterprise crew members are "frozen" with the paralyzer devices seem reasonable, until you think about the physics of it.  Unless you're sitting down or lying down, instantaneous paralysis of your voluntary muscle movement would almost certainly cause you to fall over.  So the show would be more realistic if the Enterprise folks fell down when they were paralyzed --- not to mention a whole lot funnier.

And on the subject of faking paralysis, Shatner can't freeze worth a damn.

I do have to give the writers credit for a rare consistency.  When the "good guys" were imprisoned on the unnamed planet, I immediately thought of the mind-control trick Spock used in "A Taste of Armageddon", and sneered to myself that surely he won't use that ability again, since the writers have probably forgotten that he has it.  But I was wrong.

On the other hand, this is the second consecutive episode where the writer's have forgotten about the wise policy Kirk put forth in "Return to Tomorrow", that he and Spock should never beam down anywhere together.  And since I'm sure this policy will continue to be forgotten for the duration of the series, I shan't mention it again.

The Moral of the Story: It's great to be human.

TOS 51: Patterns of Force

Original air date: 02/16/1968
Star date: None given

Summary: The Enterprise approaches the solar system of the planets Ekos and Zeon, searching for Kirk's former instructor at the Academy John Gill, who has disappeared after going to Ekos as a Federation cultural observer.  As they approach, a nuclear warhead targeting them is launched from Ekos.  They destroy the missile easily, but are surprised because neither the warlike and primitive Ekosians nor the somewhat more advanced and peaceful Zeons should have the capability of building and launching such a device.

Since their efforts to establish communication with Gill fail, Kirk and Spock beam down to Ekos wearing local clothing which, like Ekos itself, closely resembles that of 1930's-era Earth.  They are stunned to learn that Ekos society has modeled itself after Nazi Germany, and even more stunned to find that John Gill is their Fuhrer.  They learn that Ekos arbitrarily arrests, tortures and executes Zeons.  Before long they are arrested as Zeons and subjected to harsh interrogation.  The Nazi party chairman, Eneg, orders them to be held in prison for one hour, after which they will be executed if they refuse to talk.  They escape with a Zeon named Isak, who connects them with Zeon underground.

Shortly after meeting up with the underground, the Zeon hideout appears to be raided by Ekosians, including a woman named Daras, the Nazi party secretary and recently publicly decorated for her service to "the Fatherland".  However, it turns out that Daras is a double-agent aligned with the Zeons, and the "raid" was simply a test to verify that Kirk and Spock are not Nazi sympathizers.  With Daras' help, they hatch a plan to confront Gill that evening, when he will be making a nationally televised address.

Posing as party officials photographing Daras' appearance at the speech, Kirk, Spock, Isak and Daras enter the building where Gill is broadcasting.  However, they can't speak to Gill, because the Deputy Fuhrer, Melakon, controls all access to him.  Gill is being held in a closed and guarded broadcast booth, but Spock is able to get a brief glimpse of him and believes he may be in a drugged state.  Kirk manages to get McCoy down to the surface dressed as a Nazi doctor, and they break into the booth immediately after Gill makes his address to the nation, an address in which he calls for the total annihilation of all Zeon people.

McCoy concludes that Gill is heavily drugged and that Melakon is really running the show, using Gill as his puppet.  Kirk realizes that as Fuhrer, Gill can call a halt to the slaughter of the Zeons, but he must first counteract the drug in his system.  A stimulant from McCoy isn't sufficient to the job, and they are about to be discovered by other Nazi guards.  Kirk gives Spock up to the Nazis to buy time, and Spock is brought before Melakon, who comments on how Spock's Vulcan features clearly indicate his is an inferior race.  Kirk manages to rouse Gill sufficiently to make another broadcast to the nation calling off the attack and denouncing Melakon as a traitor.  Melakon grabs a gun and shoots Gill dead in the booth, and Isak shoots and kills Melakon.

It turns out that party chairman Eneg is also a Zeon sympathizer, and with Gill and Melakon dead, it falls to him and Daras to pick up the reins of power, heal the rift with the Zeons, and move their two planets forward together.

This was a good episode, and like most good episodes in the series, it's good because it doesn't rely on the outer space setting and creatures with "godlike powers".  The script also had no obvious plot holes (though the way Kirk and Spock escape from prison strains credibility to the breaking point), and the dialog and pacing are good.

The script also has a decent amount of originality to it.  The Federation "non-interference" directive is put to an extreme test: if you're ever going to interfere with another culture, interfering to halt Nazi atrocities would be the time to do it.  Since Gill is the leader of this Nazi regime, Kirk and Spock's goals (finding out what happened to Gill) align with the goals of the Zeon underground (get to Gill to stop the atrocities), but for different reasons and with different motives.  The underground wants to kill Gill, and Kirk can't allow it.  And the scene with Daras pretending to be a true Nazi in order to test Kirk and Spock's motives is great.

This is the third episode in the past five (including "A Piece of the Action" and "A Private Little War") in which the Prime Directive plays a major role, and while it was not the most persuasive about the Prime Directive's merits --- the major takeaway here is that teaching primitive cultures to be Nazis is bad --- it is the most entertaining.  Indeed, this episode and "A Piece of the Action" tell a similar story, but while "A Piece of the Action" is a farce, and one I didn't much care for, this episode treats its subject with the seriousness it deserves.

Other observations about this episode . . .

In the previously-aired episode, "Return to Tomorrow", Kirk made the prudent decision not to have himself and Spock both beam down to a planet at the same time.  Here, one week later, Kirk (or really, the writers of the show) have forgotten that wise policy, as Kirk and Spock are the only crew members to beam down until late in the show.

There is a surprisingly large number of Zeons on Ekos, considering the way the Ekosians treat them.

It's remarkably fortunate for Kirk and Spock that so many high-ranking Ekosians (Eneg, Daras) are actually Zeon double-agents.  Remarkably fortunate, too, that they happen to break into Gill's broadcast booth immediately after his broadcast ends.  Just a few seconds sooner, and Melakon would have seen what was happening and killed them all.

The way Kirk and Spock break out of jail is completely ridiculous, of course.  What great luck that this is the first time, ever, that a landing party has subcutaneous transponders implanted, and they just happen to need them to get out of jail.  And what great luck that the support in the bed is exactly what they need to dig the crystals out of their arms and hold them the correct distance away from each other.  And how amazing that Spock is able to focus the resulting laser exactly where he needs it, even as he is weaving back and forth on Kirk's back.

Considering the serious subject matter, there are still some funny lines in the script.  The best is when Kirk and Spock knock out a Nazi officer, and Kirk starts to put on his uniform as a disguise.  Spock remarks: "You should make a very convincing Nazi".

Also, Valora Noland is a smokin' hottie.

The Moral of the Story: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

TOS 50: Return to Tomorrow

Original air date: 02/09/1968
Star date: 4768.3

Summary: The Enterprise is summoned by an unknown agent to a dead planet hundreds of light years further into deep space than any human has ever traveled.  Spock estimates that the planet was once inhabited, but its atmosphere was destroyed a half million years before, leaving it devoid of life.  Nonetheless, a voice greets them upon their arrival.  The voice seems to be emanating from a chamber more than 100 miles beneath the planet's surface, a chamber in which Spock can detect energy readings, but no life.

The voice gives its name as Sargon, and has the power to transport Kirk, Spock, McCoy and an astrobiologist named Dr. Ann Mulhall down to the chamber, even though the transporter cannot ordinarily beam people through that much rock.  Upon arrival, the team discovers that Sargon is indeed a life form consisting of pure energy, residing in a translucent sphere.  Sargon explains that he was once part of a humanoid race which lived on this planet half a million years ago, that sent explorers into space just like the Federation does, and refers to the Enterprise crew as "my children", speculating that perhaps Adam and Eve were descendants of his race.  Sargon then explains that he and the two other survivors of his race --- his wife, Thalassa, and a former enemy, Henoch --- need to temporarily occupy the bodies of Kirk, Mulhall and Spock, respectively, in order to build android bodies that they may occupy on a more permanent basis.

Sargon temporarily occupies Kirk's body, and greatly appreciates experiencing human sensations again.  While Sargon is in Kirk's body, Kirk's consciousness is transferred to the sphere.  McCoy and Mulhall note that Sargon's presence in Kirk's body is unsustainable --- when Sargon is present, Kirk's metabolism races, putting Kirk's life in danger.  After making the request to exchange bodies, Sargon and Kirk switch back, and Sargon permits the crew to return to the Enterprise to discuss his proposal.

After some discussion, Kirk is able to overcome reservations on McCoy's part, and they agree to help Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch.  All three of them switch places, but Kirk's body and Mulhall's cannot sustain Sargon and Thalassa for very long.  However, Spock's Vulcan body is more robust, and Henoch is able to remain in his body long enough to prepare an injection which will control their metabolisms and allow the beings to occupy the mortal bodies long enough to construct their permanent android homes.  Henoch is much more emotive than the stoic Spock, smiling and jovial, and takes an instant liking to Nurse Chapel.

However, Henoch has already decided that he likes Spock's Vulcan body and intends to keep it.  He intentionally prepares an injection for Sargon which is insufficient to preserve Kirk's body, planning to have Kirk's body die while Sargon is in it, thus killing Sargon as well.  Henoch makes these preparations in the presence of Nurse Chapel, and explains his plan to her quite calmly, using some kind of mind control to prevent her from alerting the others.

By the time Kirk's body dies --- with Kirk's consciousness still present in the sphere --- Henoch has also persuaded Thalassa that an android body is an unacceptable substitute for the living bodies they currently occupy.  Thalassa tells McCoy she intends to keep Mulhall's body, and offers to restore Kirk's consciousness to his body if McCoy keeps his silence.  McCoy refuses, angering Thalassa and causing her to use her considerable mental powers to attempt to kill him.  But before it's too late, she realizes how dangerous her powers are, and that she cannot allow herself to remain in Mulhall's body.  We then hear approval from Sargon who is not dead after all, but who transferred his consciousness into the Enterprise when Kirk's body died.  Sargon then summons Nurse Chapel, who will play an integral part in his plan to stop Henoch.

When McCoy returns to sickbay, he finds Kirk and Mulhall returned to their bodies, and the three spheres destroyed, indicating to him that Sargon's, Thalassa's and Spock's consciousness have all been destroyed.  Kirk explains that it was necessary to stop Henoch, and orders McCoy to prepare an injection which is the most lethal to Vulcans that he can manage.  The intent seems to be to kill Spock's body, and Henoch's consciousness with it.

We next see Henoch in Spock's body on the bridge, having taken command of the Enterprise, Nurse Chapel at his side.  When Kirk, Mulhall and McCoy arrive on the bridge, Henoch inflicts debilitating pain on Kirk and Mulhall, and halts McCoy before he can deliver the injection, pointing out that he knows "every thought of every mind around him".  He then orders Nurse Chapel to apply the injection to McCoy --- but at the last minute, she injects Henoch instead.  Henoch attempts to flee to another body, but then discovers that Sargon is still 'alive' in the ship, along with Thalassa.  Somehow, Sargon prevents Henoch from inhabiting another body, forcing him out of Spock's body and into oblivion.  Once Henoch is gone, Sargon revives Spock, explaining that McCoy's injection was not lethal after all --- Sargon just needed everyone to believe that so Henoch would read it in their minds --- and that Spock's consciousness had been carried in Nurse Chapel's body.

After occupying Kirk's and Mulhall's bodies one final time, so that they can touch one another again, Sargon and Thalassa also destroy themselves, having concluded that their existence is too dangerous to human life in the galaxy.

I have to admit, at the beginning of the episode, I was dreading having to sit through another "godlike powers" episode.  However, it turned out to be pretty good because unlike previous episodes, the "gods" turn out to be largely benevolent for a change, and because although they have godlike powers, they are mortal after all.  The tension largely comes from divisions between the godlike creatures, rather than the godlike creatures toying with the Enterprise crew, which makes it sufficiently different to be interesting.

Also, it's fun to see Leonard Nimoy playing a character so very different from Spock, and an interesting character at that.  Evil, but a very casual, genial sort of evil.

Shatner, on the other hand, demonstrates his incredibly narrow range as an actor, continuing to use his same, distinctive halting speech cadences, even when he is playing Sargon.

We never really learn why Sargon's race was wiped out and reduced to living in spheres.  Sargon explains that they did it to themselves somehow: "One day our minds became so powerful, we dared think of ourselves as gods".  This is actually the second episode where we get the old Garden of Eden reference, that humans who aspire to be gods condemn themselves to ruin (the first being  "Where No Man has Gone Before") --- with even a mention of Adam and Eve to boot.  However, it appears that even after a half million years to ruminate on it, it is a lesson Henoch failed to learn.

My only quarrel with this episode is that the ending breaks the rules.  For about 48 minutes, we're lead to believe that a body can only contain one consciousness at a time.  But then Sargon stuffs Spock's consciousness into Nurse Chapel along with her own.  If that sort of thing is allowed, why didn't they just shove all three of Sargon, Thalassa and Henoch into Scotty from the beginning, and let him build all three androids?

Also at the end, if Henoch really knows every thought of every mind around him, why doesn't he realize that Nurse Chapel/Spock plan to inject him?  For that matter, wouldn't he detect Spock's consciousness on the bridge and wonder what the hell was going on?

Other observations about this episode . . .

Since Sargon and (eventually) Thalassa are enlightened and benevolent, I don't see why they must destroy themselves at the end.  But even if they must, why can't they provide the Enterprise crew with all of their wonderful knowledge before they go?

When Sargon first introduces himself to Kirk, he says "If you let what is left of me perish, then all of you my children, all of mankind must perish too."  But clearly this was B.S.

When Kirk is preparing to beam down to the planet, he explicitly states that Spock should remain on the ship, because it risks too much for them to both go to the surface.  This is sound logic --- and it is also sorely missing from a great number of other TOS episodes.

Sulu's back again, and back to third in command.  Where the hell had he been?

The Moral of the Story: From Kirk, when giving McCoy "one good reason" to accommodate Sargon's wishes: "Risk.  Risk is our business.  That's what this starship is all about.  That's why we're aboard her!"

TOS 49: A Private Little War

Original air date: 02/02/1968
Star date: 4211.8 (from McCoy's medical log)

Summary: Kirk, Spock and McCoy are visiting an "Eden-like" planet Kirk had previously visited 13 years before.  Just as Kirk is telling Spock about how peaceful the inhabitants are, they see three men (villagers) with flintlock rifles lying in wait to ambush another group of men (hill people), including Tyree, the man Kirk lived with during his earlier visit.  Due to the relatively primitive nature of the inhabitants, use of phasers is strictly prohibited, but Kirk distracts the villagers by throwing a rock at them.  This draws the villagers' attention to Kirk and Spock, and Spock is critically shot before the three can return to the Enterprise.

Upon returning to the ship, Chekhov informs Kirk that a Klingon ship has been sighted orbiting the planet, but he believes the Klingons have not yet seen them.  Kirk immediately concludes that the Klingons are responsible for arming the villagers, who had barely learned to forge iron 13 years before.  With Spock's recovery in the capable hands of Dr. M'Benga, a specialist in Vulcan medicine, Kirk and McCoy return to the planet to contact the hill people in violation of Starfleet orders.  Shortly after arriving, Kirk is attacked by a mugato, a large, white ape-like creature.  McCoy vaporizes the mugato with his phaser, but cannot cure Kirk of the toxic poison of the mugato bite.  Before losing consciousness, Kirk instructs McCoy to find Tyree, who will be able to help him.

Tyree, now the leader of the hill people, arrives with his wife Nona, who is a Canutu, a race skilled at curing people using the natural herbs and roots of the planet.  Nona cures Kirk and, according to custom, believes that Kirk is now unable to refuse her any request.  One of the things Nona wants is more powerful guns to use in their fight with the villagers.  However Tyree is adamantly opposed to killing and insists that the villagers will eventually return to their peaceful ways.  This leads Nona to grow disgusted with him, saying she married the wrong man.

That night, Kirk, McCoy and Tyree infiltrate the village and discover that the Klingons have indeed been supplying the villagers with weapons as Kirk suspected.  They return to the hill people's settlement with one of the guns, and Kirk begins to teach them how to use it.  In a private conversation, Kirk and McCoy debate the merits of arming the hill people, with Kirk insisting that the hill people must have the same level of weaponry the villagers have, in order to maintain a "balance of power".  McCoy is vehemently opposed to this idea, insisting that such an action will only lead to "massacre after massacre".  However, Kirk is unpersuaded, and goes off to find Nona in the hope that she can convince Tyree to drop his pacifist stance.

Kirk finds Nona, who attempts to seduce Kirk using an herbal aphrodisiac.  Tyree happens to see this and raises the flintlock as if to shoot either Kirk or Nona, but then realizes what he is about to do, and drops the gun in disgust.  A mugato then attacks Kirk and Nona.  Under the influence of the aphrodisiac, Kirk is slow to react, but eventually he vaporizes the mugato with his phaser.  Nona is impressed, and knocks Kirk unconscious so she can take his phaser.  She attempts to bring it to the villagers, presumably because she is fed up with Tyree's pacifism, but the villagers disbelieve her claim of having a great weapon and decide to rape her instead.  Meanwhile, McCoy and Tyree find a recovering Kirk, who realizes Nona took his phaser.  They run to rescue Nona from the villagers, who kill her as soon as they see Tyree.  A battle ensues in which McCoy is shot in the arm and Tyree kills a villager by hitting him in the head repeatedly with a rock.

Overcome with anger over Nona's murder, Tyree demands "many more" guns from Kirk, intent on killing the villagers.  Kirk calls up to the Enterprise to ask Scotty how long it would take to create 100 flintlocks, then reconsiders, and decides to leave the planet as it is.

This is another good episode, and the main reason it's good is that it doesn't rely on creatures with "god-like powers" or bizarre outer-space phenomena.  It is a story which could occur anywhere, and thus stands on the strength of its story-telling.  And it stands up very well.

The central point, of course, is the question of arms control.  The show subtly, yet unambiguously, makes the point that the introduction of advanced weaponry into this culture is responsible for increased violence and cruelty --- the villagers talk to the Klingon representative about how they've come to enjoy killing.  Then there is the more direct question of what to do now that the "serpent" has introduced forbidden knowledge into this "Eden-like" planet, where the "serpent" is the Klingon Empire, and the forbidden knowledge is that of gunpowder.  The problem is one that has occurred many times in human history, with more advanced societies arming less-advanced ones for political or economic reasons.  It also makes the point that knowledge cannot be unlearned: the knowledge of firearms could not be removed from this planet in the same way that our current knowledge of nuclear weapons cannot be removed from ours.

Kirk seems to be left with two options, both unpleasant: either add fuel to the fire by contributing his own weapons to a villagers-versus-hill people proxy war with the Klingons, or stand idly by while the villagers slowly extinguish his friend Tyree and his people.  The bleak choices are well-described in the following dialogue between Kirk and McCoy, some of the best in the series:

McCoy: Do I have to say it?  It's not bad enough there's already one serpent in Eden teaching one side about gunpowder, you're gonna make sure they all know about it!
Kirk: Exactly.  Each side receives the same knowledge and the same type of firearm.
McCoy: Have you gone out of your mind?  Yes, maybe you have!  Tyree's wife, she said there was something in that root, she said now that you can refuse her nothing.
Kirk: Superstition.
McCoy: Is it a coincidence this is exactly what she wants?
Kirk: Is it?  She wants superior weapons; that's the one thing neither side can have.  Bones --- Bones, the normal development of this planet was the status quo between the hill people and the villagers.  The Klingons changed that with the flintlocks.  If this planet is to develop in the way it should, we must equalize both sides again.
McCoy: Jim, that means you're condemning this whole planet to a war that may never end!  It could go on for year after year, massacre after massacre ---
Kirk: All right Doctor!!  All right, all right, say I'm wrong, say I'm drugged.  Say the woman drugged me.  What is your sober, sensible solution to all this?
McCoy: I don't have a solution.  But furnishing them firearms is certainly not the answer!
Kirk: Bones, do you remember the 20th-century brush wars on the Asian continent?  Two giant powers involved, much like the Klingons and ourselves?  Neither side felt that they could pull out?
McCoy: Yes I remember.  It went on bloody year after bloody year!
Kirk: What would you have suggested?  That one side arm its friends with an overpowering weapon?  Mankind would never have liked to travel space if they had!  No, the only solution is what happened back then: balance of power.
McCoy: And if the Klingons give their side even more?
Kirk: Then we arm our side with exactly that much more!  A balance of power!  The trickiest, most difficult, dirtiest game of them all, but the only one that preserves both sides.

Unlike other episodes, in which the writers feel compelled to offer a pat solution at the end, even when the "solution" is nonsense (see for example, "A Piece of the Action"), this episode presents the hard choices, and ends with Kirk still torn between them, just barely inclined to honor the Federation's non-interference doctrine.

Of course, there is something the Federation can do, and that is to confront the Klingons about their actions.  It appears that this sort of Klingon involvement violates some sort of treaty, and in "real life", I have no doubt the Federation will react in some manner.  But Kirk is quite right that his Eden has now changed forever.

Finally, Tyree's transformation from adamant pacifist to bloodthirsty leader is quite a striking example of how the poison of advanced weaponry has completely and irreparably changed this society.

Other observations about this episode . . .

Why are the Klingons arming the villagers anyway?  What will they gain by it?  That is never made clear.

It sure is convenient that there just happens to a be a doctor expert in Vulcan care when Spock is shot --- a guy we've never seen before and certainly never will again.

Even though the white furry creatures are clearly identified by the cast as "Mugato" or "Mugatu", the actor playing the creature is credited as "The Gumato".

The Moral of the Story: When a society's weapons grow faster than its wisdom, paradise can quickly become hell.

TOS 48: The Immunity Syndrome

Original air date: 01/19/1968
Star date: 4307.1

Summary: The Enterprise crew is exhausted after its last mission, and is heading toward Starbase 6 for some much needed R&R, when Spock suddenly suffers an attack of some sort, and somehow intuits that the Intrepid, a Vulcan ship with 400 crew members, has been destroyed.  Shortly afterward, the Enterprise receives orders from Starbase 6 to lay in a course for sector 39J to investigate why contact has been lost with the Intrepid and with solar system Gamma 7A.  Shore leave will have to wait for a while.

As they approach solar system Gamma 7A, Chekhov's scan shows that all life in the solar system has been eradicated.  On the view screen, they see what looks like a hole in the universe: a ghostly ring of misty white, with a dead black center.  As they approach this entity, some crew members start to feel weak, and the ship's power levels begin to drop.  The ship continues forward, and the energy drain from both the ship and its crew continues, until the ship is immersed in total darkness.  McCoy suggests that they should turn back, but Kirk insists that they have a duty to investigate.

Kirk changes his mind in short order, but by this time the Enterprise is being drawn forward by something.  They discover that reverse thrust somehow pushes them forward, but they can slow their forward progress with forward thrust.  They soon realize that they are in a negative energy field, where all electronic and organic energy is slowly drained, and certain laws of physics are reversed.

As they continue their progress, they eventually find what seems to be the cause of the negative energy field: what appears to be a single-celled organism which is 11,000 miles long and 2,000 - 3,000 miles wide.  Since a couple of probes sent out to gather data on the organism sent back limited data, Spock and McCoy both volunteer to fly a shuttle into it, in what is likely a suicide mission.  After much agonizing, Kirk decides to send Spock.

Spock sends back more useful information, and seems to have determined a means of destroying the creature, but interference prevents his information from reaching the Enterprise.  After communication with Spock is lost, he is presumed dead.  Kirk decides to push the Enterprise as close as possible to the organism's nucleus and leave an anti-matter bomb there, reasoning that if it consumes positive energy, negative energy should destroy it.  They leave the bomb in the nucleus set with a 7-minute fuse, and with only impulse power remaining, start to back out of the organism's body.  On the way, they happen to brush past Spock's shuttle, and latch onto it with a tractor beam.  The bomb kills the organism and Spock is reunited with the Enterprise crew.  It's Miller time, and Kirk orders the Enterprise to proceed to Starbase 6 at warp 5.

This episode had a simple, straightforward plot, with no real holes in it.  On the other hand, the pacing was slow and the ending predictable.  So, it sort of rates a "meh".

As a subplot, there was an effort to develop the friendly rivalry between Spock and McCoy, but it doesn't really work.  I watched this episode twice (like I do with all of them), and the two dialogues they have --- the first shortly after Spock's empathetic reaction to the loss of the Intrepid, the second as Spock is about to depart on the suicide mission McCoy had also volunteered for --- don't really work.  In the first, McCoy refuses to believe Spock suffered a reaction to the death of 400 of his species, which leaves Spock saying that if humans were more empathetic, "It might have rendered your history a bit less bloody."  The second is completely independent of the first, and seems to boil down to McCoy expressing a bit of sour grapes about the fact that Spock gets to risk his life while McCoy doesn't.  But despite the close-ups on their faces, indicating that the director thought these were speeches of great import, they left me feeling, once again, "meh".

And I have one small quibble with the script.  Shortly after entering the negative energy zone, McCoy recommends survival, which I interpret to mean he thinks they should turn back.  Kirk forges ahead, telling the crew: "Our orders do not say 'stay alive' or 'retreat'; our mission is to investigate.  We're sick and, we're getting sicker.  We have no guarantees but we have a good ship, and the best crew in the Starfleet, so do your jobs, carry on."  But it seems they could at least start by investigating the phenomenon from OUTSIDE the negative energy zone.

Other observations about this show . . . .

Spock insists that the Vulcans on the Intrepid were "astonished" to be destroyed by the organism, explaining that the planet Vulcan has not been conquered at any time in their history; thus no living Vulcan can comprehend the possibility of being conquered, or, in this case, destroyed.  I can't pinpoint the show, but I seem to recall an early episode where McCoy makes a wisecrack about the Vulcans being conquered.

Either way, I find it hard to believe that on a ship of 400 Vulcans, none of them realized the danger they were facing.

Once again, I am amazed by 23rd-century technology.  Somehow Chekhov is able to discern that all life in the entire Gamma 7A solar system has been eradicated.

The Enterprise uses up practically all of its energy trying to exit the organism.  But after it explodes, somehow power levels increase again, until they're able to head toward Starbase 6 at warp 5.  How does that work?

The exterior shots of the Enterprise when they are in the negative energy zone are pretty cool.

Kirk starts of the show with a funny, if somewhat raunchy line, when he's making his Captain's log entry about the need for R&R and states: "I, too am looking forward to a nice period of rest on some lovely . . . (gazes at short-skirted blonde yeoman) . . . planet."  He repeats the line at the end of the show, and it's just as funny then.

The Moral of the Story: Eliminating threats to the galaxy is a typical day's work in Starfleet.

TOS 47: A Piece of the Action

Original air date: 01/12/1968
Star date: None given

Summary: In response to a 100-year-old radio transmission from the planet Gamma Iotia 2, the Enterprise is following up on the planet's encounter with the Federation starship Horizon which was destroyed shortly after leaving the planet 100 years before.  It is suspected that the Horizon "contaminated" the planet, then on the brink of industrialization, by leaving behind information about the Earth's past.  Kirk arranges to meet with one of the planet's leaders, Boss Bela Okmyx.  When he beams down with McCoy and Spock, they are startled to find that the Iotians have modeled their society after Chicago gangsters of the 1920's.

Okmyx is the most powerful gangster boss on the planet, and he wants Kirk to provide him with advanced technology --- primarily phasers --- so he can consolidate his grip on power.  When Kirk refuses, Okmyx detains them, and radios up to the Enterprise that they have 8 hours to acquiesce or Kirk, Spock and McCoy will be killed.  Kirk facilitates an escape by drawing Okmyx's guards into a nonsensical card game, then orders Spock and McCoy to return to the ship while he captures Okmyx.  However, before he can reach Okmyx, Kirk is recaptured by gangsters working for Boss Krako, one of Okmyx's many rivals.

Like Okmyx, Krako also wants phasers so he can be the top boss.  As with Okmyx, Kirk refuses, and is once again locked up.  Once again Kirk escapes.  In the meantime, Okmyx contacts Spock on the Enterprise and offers a truce, telling Spock he'll help find Kirk if Spock and McCoy return to the surface.  Seeing no option but to trust Okmyx, Spock once again beams down with McCoy, and Okmyx immediately takes them prisoner again.  This lasts only moments, however, as Kirk bursts through the door, turning the tables yet again.  For some reason, Kirk decides to pay another visit to Krako, this time dressed appropriately; he orders two of Okmyx's lieutenants to undress, so that Kirk and Spock pay their visit to Krako in the height of 1920's fashion.  Along the way, we find that Kirk has much to learn about driving 1920's-vintage automobiles.

In the end, using what is presumably a Chicago accent, Kirk manages to collect all of the Iotian  bosses in Okmyx's billiards room, and offers them a deal wherein Okmyx will be the head boss with the others working for him, and the Federation will come by once a year and take a 40% cut.  The bosses are reluctant to agree, until they see a demonstration of the Federation's might: the Enterprise using its phasers set on stun to knock out all combatants on both sides of a gunfight.  Once they have returned to the ship, Spock raises concerns about the Federation's cut.  Kirk addresses this concern by proposing that the money will be used to "guide the Iotians into a more ethical system".

Oh, those fun-loving, devil-may-care gangsters!  Is there anything more adorable?  With their amusing speech patterns and slang expressions --- when you "bag" one of your enemies so you can "put him on ice" or "smoke 'em", and those folksy accents they use!  There's hardly anything cuter, unless it's the 10-year-old boy merrily running around the street waving his switchblade knife, or perhaps the prostitutes with the handguns strapped to their hips, complaining about street conditions even after they've paid Boss Okmyx his percentage.  And most adorable of all, the way one of Okmyx's boys falls backward into some bags of trash after Krako's boys execute a "hit" on him.

No, wait a minute.  That part was supposed to be serious.  And perhaps the part with the prostitutes was, too.  But the 10-year-old with the switchblade really was meant to be endearing, which is kind of awful.

This show almost has more things wrong with it than I can name, but its biggest problem is that it doesn't know whether it wants to be serious or funny.  Let's be clear: organized crime is not funny, it's serious.  Prostitution is serious.  Kids growing up carrying knives in a world full of guns is serious.  Drive-by shootings are serious.  Full-blown shootouts between gangs in the middle of the street in the middle of the day are serious.  All of these things are presented in this show, but rarely are they presented seriously.

Unfortunately, they are presented seriously just often enough to take most of the fun out of Kirk's gangster impersonation, for example.  So while I am willing to give a pass to an episode like "I, Mudd", which never tries to be anything more than fairly corny improv comedy, I can't overlook the really bad writing and treatment of gangsterism in this show.

Let's see --- Kirk, Spock and McCoy are captured.  Then they escape.  Then Kirk is captured again, by different gangsters.  Then he escapes.  Then Spock and McCoy return to the surface for no apparent reason other than to get captured again.  Then Kirk rescues them.  Then Kirk and Spock go visit Krako, where they are captured.  Then they escape.  Then they return to Okmyx's place and capture all of the bosses, then are captured by them, then finally turn the tables one them on last time.  And through all of this, no one is shot or killed.  Well, two of Krako's men are hit by phasers set to stun.  And one of Okmyx's men is killed, but that occurs at the very beginning of the episode, before the Enterprise crew is really involved.

REALLY?  Instead of just, I don't know, telling Okmyx at the very beginning: "I don't know who you think you are pulling guns on us, but we can kill you and everyone you ever knew so stop screwing around."

Then there's the ending, where Kirk leaves the planet still in the hands of gangsters, just unified under Okmyx's control.  Yes, this is probably a better arrangement than the one they had before the Enterprise arrived, to the extent that there should be less turf warfare.  But the prostitution will continue, and the kids with knives, and probably the other things one associates with organized crime but which aren't shown in this episode: racketeering, drug trafficking, etc.  Not that there's an easy fix to a situation like the one on Gamma Iotia 2, but Kirk's "fix" isn't really a fix at all.

I guess my real problem with this episode is that the writers decided to write a comedy about gangsters.  And that's fine, so long as your script is totally divorced from the reality of how awful organized crime is.  This script was not.

Here's the big payoff, in Kirk's explanation to Spock about what will happen when a Federation ship arrives once a year to collect the Federation's "cut":

I propose that our cut be put into the planetary treasury and used to guide the Iotians into a more ethical system.  Despite themselves, they'll be forced to accept conventional responsibilities.  Isn't that logical?

No Kirk.  No it isn't.  In fact, it is gibberish.

Other observations about this episode . . .

I get it that this show never really had much in the way of a budget.  So we keep seeing episodes where the Enterprise returns to Earth --- or something like it --- at least in part due to the fact that Desilu already had a lot of these sets built.  But it is getting a little old, and I see we're not close to done with them.

The whole premise is pretty dumb, too.  The Horizon left all kinds of educational materials, but a history book about 1920's Chicago gangs is apparently the only thing the Iotians read.  And why are they still stuck in gangster culture?  Chicago grew out of it in far less than 100 years, why not the Iotians, who are supposedly "highly intelligent".

Why do Spock and McCoy beam down to Okmyx's office with phasers if they aren't prepared to use them?

I get it that the writers wanted Kirk leading a meeting of gang bosses in a 1920's billiards room, but it would have made hella more sense to beam all the bosses to the Enterprise.  That way, Kirk might have been able to broker a resolution that didn't involve perpetuating gangster culture.

The Moral of the Story: Meet the new Boss; same as the old Boss.

TOS 46: The Gamesters of Triskelion

Original air date: 01/05/1968
Star date: 3211.7

Summary: As they are about to beam down to Gamma 2, Kirk, Uhura and Chekhov suddenly disappear.  The rest of the Enterprise crew has no idea what happened to them, but it turns out they have been abducted to the surface of the planet Triskelion.  In short order, they are approached by four fighters of different humanoid species.  Their communicators and phasers have ceased to function, so they engage in hand-to-hand combat and are eventually subdued.  A fifth humanoid appears out of nowhere, introduces himself as "Galt", and explains that they are all of them --- himself included --- thralls on the planet, held and made to fight for the amusement of the Providers, unseen, all-powerful beings who observe the fights and wager on the outcome.

Galt addresses Kirk, Uhura and Chekhov by name, making it clear that they have been intentionally selected by the Providers for abduction.  Each of them is assigned a trainer thrall so that they can be trained as thralls and remain on Triskelion for the rest of their lives.  Like the other thralls, the obedience of the Federation officers is ensured by means of a shock collar around their necks, which either Galt or the Providers can activate to cause them debilitating pain.

Back on the Enterprise, Spock, McCoy and Scotty work to find out what happened to their colleagues.  After finding nothing in the solar system of Gamma 2, Ensign Jana Haines detects an unusual ionization trail which Spock decides to follow.  It appears we are to conclude that the trail was left when the Providers abducted Kirk and the others.

Kirk's trainer thrall is an attractive, green-haired woman named Shahna who, despite having spent her entire life as a thrall, shows no sign of scars or other injury on any part of her body, most of which is visible in the shiny, skimpy outfit she wears.  Kirk asks Shahna many questions about the nature of the providers, which Shahna either cannot or will not answer.  When she does start to give Kirk some information about the Providers, her shock collar is activated, causing Kirk to plead with the invisible Providers to punish him instead.  The Providers acknowledge that Kirk's compassion, along with other human aspects, interest them.  Kirk also speaks to Shahna about free choice and love, and gives her a taste of it by kissing her.

Later on in Kirk's cell, Shahna decides she is uncomfortable with Kirk's affections, and tells him she would request that he have a different trainer if such things were allowed.  However Kirk has other plans, kissing Shahna again merely so he can distract her, coldcock her, and escape from his cell along with Chekhov and Uhura.  However, Galt is waiting for them and activates all three shock collars, but the Providers stop him because they enjoy watching the humans.

At about this time the Enterprise arrives at the planet, Spock's decision to follow the ionization trail proving to be correct despite Scotty's and McCoy's skepticism.  However, the Providers have anticipated his arrival, and take control of the Enterprise, leaving them helpless in orbit around Triskelion.  Kirk demands to see the Providers, and so they instantly transport him to their underground location.  The Providers turn out to be only brains with no other physical bodies, and are able to control the thralls and the Enterprise with pure thought.  But since Kirk knows the Providers enjoy gambling, he makes a bet with them: if Kirk wins, the Enterprise may go free AND the Providers must release the thralls and teach them to self-govern.  If Kirk loses, then the full Enterprise crew will willingly become thralls and provide the Providers with the most entertaining duels.  The Providers agree, but stipulate that Kirk must fight and defeat three thralls --- and if any one of the three is injured rather than killed, that thrall will be replaced by another.

Kirk kills two of the three thralls but only injures the third, and Galt chooses Shahna to take his place.  Neither Kirk nor Shahna want to fight the other, but they do, and at one point it looks like Shahna will kill Kirk.  However, Kirk turns the tables on her and is holding a knife at her throat when she surrenders.  The Providers consider this a win for Kirk and hold up their end of the bargain, releasing the Enterprise and all of the thralls.  Although Shahna wants to go with Kirk he refuses, telling Shahna she still has much to learn, but kissing her goodbye.

This show has a decent idea, but its execution is just terrible.  Plus, it's another "godlike powers" episode that I'm really getting tired of.  Why did the Providers have to be these beings who can control practically everything with their minds?  Why couldn't they be some humanoid race like the Klingons or something?  We're just a bit more than halfway through season 2, and the "godlike powers" bit has already been done to death.

However, at least the ending has a bit more originality, with Kirk winning by making a bet with them, rather than "mommy and daddy" showing up and making the godlike creature go home.

The biggest problem I have with this show is that Shahna is so obviously a sex object.  She's supposed to be an adult gladiator who's lived and fought on Triskelion her whole life.  Why is she such a doe-eyed innocent?  Why does she walk around practically naked, in a shiny swimsuit?  Why isn't there a scar or scratch anywhere on her large quantities of visible skin?

For that matter, only ONE of the other thralls really looks like he's ever been in a fight.  Add to that the fact that there are really only four of them plus Galt (we do see two others, but briefly), and it doesn't seem like the Providers are really that interested in watching the thralls fight at all.  Plus, despite the fact that arena fighting is supposed to be the main thing the thralls do on Triskelion, we actually see precious little of it in this episode.  And what fight scenes we do see are pretty bad.  Not first-season, "Arena" bad, but pretty bad.

Another problem with this show is that all of the thralls are so one-dimensional.  I don't know what I expect a battle-slave to behave like, but I would expect them to have some kind of personality.  Mostly angry and depressed, but possibly belligerent or psychotic or even friendly, wanting to help the new folks through a difficult experience.  But these thralls have no personality at all --- I was half-expecting that they'd be revealed as androids halfway through the episode.

My biggest problem, however, is Kirk's behavior with Shahna.  Kirk tries to pump Shahna for information about the Providers, and when that doesn't work, he makes a play for her heart, kissing her a few times.  On the one hand, this is disgusting.  Kirk may feel compassion for her, and may even want to help her find a better life than the one she has, but there's NO way he feels anything like romantic attraction for her, and since he doesn't, he has no business kissing her.  On the other hand, war is hell and all that, and despite it being a very slimy thing to do, it makes sense that Kirk would try to romance to to get her off guard for his later escape.

What doesn't make sense, however, is Kirk kissing her again after he's won his battle and all the thralls are freed.  He can't possibly be in love with her, and he no longer has any reason to try to manipulate her.  What the hell was that kiss about?  It's about Nielsen ratings in the 1960's: the writers thought viewers wanted to see Kirk kiss a half-naked woman one last time.

The Providers are problematic as well.  Gosh, they've been abducting humanoids and making them fight for how long?  And humans are the FIRST species they've encountered to show compassion or a bit of intellect?  And since they don't have bodies, they can't possibly care about material wealth, so how can they be interested in gambling?  And if they're SO advanced that they don't need bodies, it seems likely they would also be advanced beyond torturing other species for fun.

This is actually a fairly dark episode.  Kirk emotionally manipulates Shahna so he can escape his prison cell, and then has to kill two innocent (relatively-speaking) thralls in order to win the release of the Enterprise and the remaining thralls.  But the writing and presentation is so flat and cartoonish that there's no real sense of drama.

Other problems with this episode . . .

Kirk may be a starship Captain and a good fighter, but it beggars belief that he could win a 3-on-1 match against seasoned thralls.  And especially Shahna.  She's supposedly been doing this her whole life and doesn't have a scratch, so she must be really good.  No way Kirk could have beaten her.

Shortly after Kirk, Uhura and Chekhov are captured, Galt informs them "your old titles mean nothing here, Captain."  While that one statement may be considered ironic, Galt and the Providers continue to address Kirk as "Captain" for the rest of the show.

When Kirk & co. go missing, Spock is able to conclude that "they are not within the confines of this solar system" in less than an hour.  That's some damn fine search technology they have.

There are some sort of controls outside the glass dome within which the Providers reside.  What are those for?  Does some thrall come and twiddle the knobs every now and then?

When Kirk makes his bet with the Providers, stating that they must teach the thralls how to self-govern if they lose, the Providers insist that the thralls are not capable of self-government.  But Kirk insists: "we have done the same with cultures throughout the galaxy".  That seems like some major Prime Directive violation there, unless Kirk is just BS-ing.

Although the thrall collars are red, yellow or blue to indicate which Provider owns them, the Providers themselves are red, yellow and green.

The episode climax comes when Kirk has killed two thralls and is on the brink of killing Shahna, leading her to surrender.  Gosh, thralls can just surrender?  Since a Kirk victory would mean freedom and self-governance for all the thralls, why didn't they just surrender right out of the gate?

The Moral of the Story: Don't force people to fight each other just because you think they're inferior to you.